Sometimes I find good things

I always drop by the local Goodwill when I'm in the area, which happens at least several times a week.  Admittedly 1/6th figure related stuff has been scarce to non-existent lately, but I find other goodies and prop items that weren't INTENDED for 1/6th.  Enough to make my visits worthwhile anyway.

Today though, was the first time in a while that I found multiple 1/6th intended items worth bringing home.  Here's my haul:

Max Steel was annoyed to find two drunk ninjas on his front lawn...

The two GI Joes are from the Target Snakeeyes vs. Storm-shadow two-pack.  No accessories or boots, but that's okay, since I was mostly interested in them for the jumpsuits (especially the white one, which I use as the basis for my "Minions at Work" Minions uniform.

The Max Steel is a rare Ultra-Action body with no modifications or action-features.  This is a great body for customizing,  It's flexible, durable, and proportioned like modern Action Man, making it a great upgrade or replacement for some of those bodies.  I've got a bunch of these already, but I can always put one more in the project box.

The best find, however, was the nifty little folding dollhouse for $3.99.  Sadly, I have no idea what this thing is called, or what doll line it comes from.  Given the quality of construction and detail, and the subdued, non-Barbieish colors, I have a vague idea it might be from the Hanna Montana doll line (which had some interesting accessories and props in some of its sets), but I'm just guessing.  If anyone knows, leave a comment.

Anyway, I've picked up a couple of folding fashion-doll dollhouses/playsets over the years, with the intention of doing something with them, but mostly they just gather dust.  Most are molded in terrible colors: pink, purple, white.  Most would require disassembly for proper painting, but they aren't designed to come apart. Also, many of the plastics used are very hard to paint.

Most are designed to look good from outside, but inside walls often have bizarre indents that match details on the outside.  Often they have molded in hearts, flowers, logos, and other stuff that would have to be hidden or removed to make them usable for my purposes.  They also tend to have unrealistic and toy-like details, especially where it comes to windows and doors.

Several of them are also just too big to be set up on a table for easy inside photography.

Get inside!  It's freezing out here!

This little house is an exception in most every way.  Let's start with the colors.  Very subdued, and bordering on realistic.

There are a bunch of neat details, like the separate door knobs and the working mail-slot in the door.  (Though, who has a mail slot any more?)  That little gray button off to the right is a working (though batteries installed in the back of the house) doorbell.

The whole house is big enough folded to serve as a photo backdrop, and looks decent when folded, but small enough for easy storage.

The center brick section (behind Max's leg next to the door in the above picture) is a hidden latch that allows the house to unfold.  The front splits next to the door.  Let's open it up and have a look inside.

This room could use some decorating...

It doesn't look like much, but just as it sits, this is a pretty versatile little set for photo work.  With the visible sink and washer-dryer, the right side could serve as a utility room or the corner of a basement.  Shoot to the left with the door and window, add a table to make it a breakfast room, or a chair to make it a living room or other generic interior room.  Hide the washer and sink behind a potted plant, wall hanging, or piece of furniture, and you could also shoot the right side as an entrance hall.

But we're not done there.  The little hose has other secrets...

That's no closet!  It's a WATER closet!

Open the wall section with the door, and there's a bathroom hiding behind it, with a toilet and shower.  The sink and mirror we saw earlier now become part of the bathroom.  The toilet bowl actually folds up to store flat behind the door.  Even so, the lid and seat can be lifted individually.  When you do, a flushing sound-effect is activated!

I like some of the details here: the toilet paper roll on the wall, the chromed towel ring, the shower wand, the yellow soap dish, and the realistic window.  All this stuff is undersized, but as background items, they work just fine for photo purposes.

If you need a larger, more open bathroom, you could use it like this, but if you want something more compact, like a motel or apartment bath, just swing the wall to the right...

Is this microphone on?

That gives us a compact, three-wall bathroom set, and if anything, makes it look more realistic.  The  shower head is removable, and there's also a shower sound effect when you push down the water handle.  There's a way (short of removing the batteries) to turn the sound off.  More on that in a minute.

The next step of transformation is to swing the wall with the sink and mirror all the way to the right, folding the toilet up as you do.  This exposes the kitchen.

Yes, I said, kitchen.  And not just ANY kitchen, either!  This is the GI Joe Adventure Team kitchen/laundry!

Yes, you heard me right.

Have a look below.  You've already seen the orange washer and drying, but you really don't get the whole effect until you've seen the yellow kitchen appliances that go with them!

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Again, everything here is really undersized, especially the stove, which has burners sized for coffee cups  But again, might work for a background piece.  As you see below, most of the doors, fridge, oven, washer and dryer, open.  Strangely, if there are any sound effects for the kitchen, I haven't found them.  There is an action feature though.  The projection on top of the washer and dryer pair is a button.  When pushed, it activates a mechanism to spin the drums inside the laundry machines.  Like I said, the doors open.  Unfortunately, these aren't very deep.  You won't get much in there beyond a couple pair of scale-sized socks!

I suppose if this were REALLY the Adventure Team, it would fold into a backpack!

Here's a closer detail on the kitchen with all the doors open.

There's a little slide switch under the stove knobs.  This turns the sound-effects on and off, and makes the apparent lack of sound in the kitchen area all the more puzzling.  Why put the switch there when the sounds are next door?  (Actually, the battery compartment may be hidden under the stove or in the bottom of the fridge.  I haven't checked to see where the battery compartment door on the outside back wall is relative to them.)

If you could find a way to rip these things out, given their size and color, they'd look right at home in some kind of GI Joe Adventure Team Motor Home.

All-in-all, this is a great little play-set that lends itself to a lot of "domestic" photo opportunities with no modification at all (other than the addition of some furniture and props).

I expect I'll use it for some future "Minions at Home" type cartoons, once I think up the jokes to go with them.

4 Things You Didn't Know You Needed in Your Toolbox or on Your Workbench

Boy, look at the cobwebs here! It's been a long time since I posted, but I've been working on some 1/6th projects (including a "guard shack" for my photo-illustrated "Minions at Work" web-comic, and it brought to mind some of the more unusual, but useful, hobby tools I keep around.

Here are a few items you probably don't have on your workbench (though you may already have them around the house) that you'll find invaluable once you have them.

Cast aluminum roofing square

If you check your local home-improvement or hardware store you'll find a variety of squares available, and just about all the smaller ones have uses in 1/6th projects, but if you are only going to have one, this might be the one to have.

I like it because it's a good size for many 1/6th construction tasks.  And because many of the materials you'll be trying to mark and cut are flexible, floppy and irregular, it's good to have a straight edge that's heavy enough not to move around on its own, and stiff enough to draw a straight line even if it isn't well supported.  It's even solid enough that you can clamp thin materials to the square itself to hold them for marking.

I also like the large raised lip along the left side that gets a firm grip on the corners and edges of things you're marking (and thinner materials can be put on TOP of the square and butted against the lip to secure them).  The built in ruler and protractor are also useful additions.

Scotch-Brite Pads

Sanding is a common task in any kind of building or refinishing project. and sanding materials tend to be expensive and not hold up very well against the edges and sharp corners found in many 1/6th projects.  Also, there's never a piece of sandpaper around when you need one.

That's why I like these pads, which can be purchased any place that sells household cleaning supplies.  They come in sheets or glued to the back of a cleaning sponge (which means that can be used like those flexible sanding blocks, only they're much more durable).  They're cheap, durable, and can be cut into smaller pieces for those small jobs.  Unlike steel wool, they won't leave little bits of wire (which can actually short out electronics and cause other problems) or rust.  By definition they're water-proof, so you can use them for wet sanding.  And they're easy to toss into your tool-box for emergencies, so you'll always have one around.

I find them especially useful when prepping larger items (like 1/6th vehicles and large equipment) for painting.  Just running the pad quickly over a plastic or metal part will rough up the surface and make paint stick much better.

The main drawback to the grocery-store variety is that they're equivalent a very course grade of sandpaper.  There are "professional" versions that are finer through, and you can find them in an auto-body supply shop.  Be aware that they're usually in different colors (grey, maroon, and white I believe) depending on how fine they are, and may not actually be called "Scotch-brite" even though they're the same product from 3M.

Speaking of, those Scotch-brite pads are tough.  How are you going to cut them?  Why, with...

Kitchen Shears

This may be the best single tool (except for maybe a good hobby knife and razor saw) you'll ever by for your hobby bench, and you'll find it sold in among the cooking gadgets.

What's the big deal?  They're just scissors, right?

Yes, but they're BAD ASS scissors.  The blades are strong and straight.  The handles are big, have wide loops so you can put lots of pressure, and are designed to give you lots of leverage on the blades.  They're designed to cut THROUGH stuff, not just paper or string.  Things like meat, and chicken bones.

They cut paper and cardboard just fine, but they'll also cut plastic like butter.  They can even be used to cut thin wood and doweling. (I rotate the scissors around the dowel, scoring a neat, shallow, cut all the way around.  Then you can just snap the dowel off and smooth end end off with sandpaper or a file.)

When picking a pair to buy, look for sturdy blades and large loops in the handles.  I like symmetrical designs that can be used equally well in the right or left hands.  It's also good to look for a design that has a slip-joint in the pivot so that the blades can come apart for easy cleaning or sharpening.

 PVC Pipe Cutter

This is probably the most expensive and least versatile tool I'll mention today, but it's still worth considering.

If you haven't looked into working with PVC pipe before, you should.  It's cheap, easy to get, and incredibly versatile.  There are a million different fittings and connectors you can get in any hardware or plumbing supply store.  You can use it to build 1/6th steam pipes, street-lights, power-poles, antennas, pontoons, fuel tanks, all sorts of things.  You can also use it to make tables, shelves, supports for photo-backdrops.  I've even built a PVC "lighting grid," around the bench where I shoot "Minions at Work," that I can clamp lights to, and use to hang props from overhead

But the trouble, especially for those of us who don't have a full work-shop is the cutting.  Cutting with a hand saw is a pain and creates plastic "sawdust" and the edges aren't very clean.  A power chop-saw (or band-saw) works better, but how many of us have one of THOSE on our hobby bench? (I do have one in my shop, but that usually isn't where I usually do hobby work.)  Only recently did I spot this tool in the plumbing department at my local hardware store and decide to give it a try.

It works BEAUTIFULLY!  It's a heavy metal handle with a thin, razor-sharp blade (replaceable on a good one).  There's a ratchet mechanism in the handle so it's easy to open, and then you just put the pipe in the jaws, squeeze the handle repeatedly, and the blade cuts smoothly through the pipe almost like butter!  It's very quick.  The edge is clean (though it's sometimes tricky to get an exact right angle, a power saw is still better for that), and you can get precision to within a millimeter or two if that's important for your project.

Drawbacks?  Well, expect to pay $15-20 dollars for this thing, and cutting pipe is pretty much all it does.  And though it's perfectly safe when used carefully, this is by far the most frightening non-power tool I've ever used.  As you watch it cut through pipe, it's easy to see how it could easily cut off a finger or thumb.  Now, it's impossible to move the blade quickly, so you'd have to be incredibly stupid to do this to yourself, but if you have a vivid imagine like I do, well, just try not to think about it!

But the blade is VERY sharp and exposed when the tool is open (it's covered when closed, and most tools have a handle lock to keep it in that position when stored), and you could cut yourself directly.  I imagine the blade is also brittle, like a hobby knife, and if you tried to use the tool to cut something it isn't designed for, you could possibly apply enough pressure to shatter it and maybe send sharp flying bits flying around the room.  For all these reasons, this is NOT a tool I'd EVER leave where a child could possible get it.  A locked drawer or toolbox or at least a high-cabinet is called for here.

Still, I just love this tool, and I use it a lot.  I'm doing far more with PVC then I've ever done before, and with far less effort.

So that's it.  If there's a lesson here, is that you'll find plenty of useful tools for your hobby projects outside the tool section of a hobby shop.  Don't be afraid to check some of the odder corners of the hardware store, or even the kitchen or auto supply.  There are plenty of cheap and useful alternatives to expensive hobby tools.